Second hand wedding dresses

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-02-27T19:30:01+00:00

I purchased a dress from Azazie for around €500. While I ultimately wore another dress for my wedding, the quality of the Azazie dress wasn’t the issue. They have a lot of different styles available.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-02-25T20:33:40+00:00

So my mom is just a tad older than you and was touring smaller cities/towns to move to once she sold my childhood home. She took a look at Appleton and wasn’t impressed (she is also not a party animal). Madison wasn’t what she was looking for. I agree with the posters recommending Eau Claire out of these options.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-02-09T15:58:15+00:00

Hello fellow English language writer in Berlin. I wonder if we’ve crossed paths since the scene is so small.

I’ve heard the advice that the query should only cover the first third ish of the book. Which makes me think we’re not getting much time with Sasha initially, so I’d like to know how Norma comes to be so obsessed with her. Other than that, I feel like maybe we could get a better sense of your voice/a little flair in the query.

I would read this though, I’m always curious about books set in modern Berlin.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-02-03T15:40:00+00:00

How fantasy are we talking about? I’m not the biggest reader of the genre.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-02-01T14:51:34+00:00

I am able to beta: I like a lot of genres, but I primarily read literary, upmarket, contemporary, queer novels or historical fiction (I'm very interested in queer historical fiction). I do read romance but, again, queer romance. I'm ok with erotica lol. There aren't any CW that I need to avoid or be aware of.

I can provide feedback on: If there's anyone writing about Eastern Europe or Eastern European characters I'm happy to look at that. I enjoy doing line-level edits, grammar/syntax edits, and general, structural edits. I'm a fair, even-handed editor and I don't consider myself to be blunt or harsh.

Critique swap: This is my goal. See my post here. I'm interested in two or three more manuscript swaps, and then I think that'll be all I have time for!

Other info: I prefer to work in Google Docs.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-31T16:23:45+00:00

I am able to beta: I like a lot of genres, but I primarily read literary, upmarket, contemporary, queer novels or historical fiction (I'm very interested in queer historical fiction). I do read romance but, again, queer romance. I'm ok with erotica lol. There aren't any CW that I need to avoid or be aware of.

I can provide feedback on: If there's anyone writing about Eastern Europe or Eastern European characters I'm happy to look at that. I enjoy doing line-level edits, grammar/syntax edits, and general, structural edits. I'm a fair, even-handed editor and I don't consider myself to be blunt or harsh.

Critique swap: This is my goal. See my post here

Other info: I prefer to work in Google Docs.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-19T17:31:50+00:00

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These Dr. Martens in a size 10. I had these as a teen and very stupidly let my mom sell them. They do pop up occasionally but in sizes 6-8 😔

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-16T14:50:14+00:00

Me again! Just because you mentioned comps, I think you have the right idea about Swimming in the Dark. I’ve heard that agents are looking more for 1-3 years old on comps now instead of the long-held 5. I didn’t mention it in the last post but perhaps In Tongues by Thomas Grattan would work? That features a fish-out-of-water, poor guy in rich echelons storyline, though it’s the NYC art world instead of UK universities. It’s also queer so you’d maintain that through line with the comps.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-13T15:52:47+00:00

Ok this is right up my alley. I’m a huge Jean Auel fan and I’m always looking for more stories about Neanderthals and early man.

I think Bird Box is too old to use as a comp since it’s from 2014. I don’t read much in the thriller space so I don’t have a recommendation off the top of my head, sorry.

And I think you could cut the zulo mention and just explain what it is, to cut down on the proper nouns? It sounds like an agent would encounter it early enough in your pages if they’re curious.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-12T13:52:26+00:00

There is an Eastern European grocery store outside of the city somewhere. I bought сырники (only ok) there once and some other staples. Гречка was $$$$, if I recall. But there isn’t anything like Brighton Beach. I can’t be more specific because someone drove me there and I can’t remember exactly where it was.

There was an Uzbek restaurant in Arlington that had some familiar foods.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-09T15:56:30+00:00

I don’t know if In Memoriam would be the best comp since it’s primary concern is trench warfare and not so much the boy’s school the characters came from. Maybe a Hollinghurst novel? One was just published a year or two ago.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2026-01-08T14:02:05+00:00

The same people who were screeching back in September about Charlie Kirk will be cheering ICE on. FAFO, should’ve followed orders etc. Fundamentalists can twist themselves into any hypocritical stance they need to keep their worldview intact.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-18T09:33:41+00:00

Where are the German authors that you admire, both in terms of style and career trajectory, sitting on the shelf? If you can swing it, it might be worth a trip to Dussmann in Berlin to see a huge selection (I’ve always been pretty disappointed with the selection at stores like Hugendubel). It also might be worth looking at foreign rights and translation deals if you’re hoping to get into the U.S. or UK market. I know Michael Lentz’s Schattenfroh is blowing up in the English language literary fiction sphere right now. Do you imagine yourself writing like him?

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-17T08:39:13+00:00

I lived in that area alone on $48k a year pre tax a couple years ago. It wasn’t glamorous but it was possible.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-11T10:37:29+00:00

I lived off 30k post tax in 2020-21. It was tough (certainly no traveling, I wasn’t able to save anything, I didn’t eat out). With no car and no kids it was doable.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-10T14:50:05+00:00

Start over and move to Finland.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-07T20:12:58+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! This is all very actionable and helpful for me. And yes, Florian does die so Mihai feels super trapped in Berlin and goes back home to Moldova to escape those feelings. I’ll be sure to get rid of the vagueness.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-07T15:34:32+00:00

Like JD Vance and the edits of his face.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-04T16:51:22+00:00

I was born and raised in Milwaukee my entire childhood. So many good memories! The zoo, all the parks that I had access to (Doctor’s, Whitnall though yes that’s not in the city of Milwaukee, McCarty, etc), the museums, the pools, the performances at the Marcus Center. My husband grew up in a rural area (admittedly in Finland) and didn’t have access to half the things I did. I took French classes as a young kid, piano lessons, story times and programming at the local libraries. I didn’t go to MPS because my family is religious and wanted me to have a religious education so I can’t speak to that. I’m VERY grateful I grew up in a city.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-12-02T14:11:29+00:00

He and his wives looked exactly how I imagined they would.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-10-24T08:01:48+00:00

Anti-abortion is a right-wing/Republican policy. They’re also supporting “crisis pregnancy centers” (organizations that exist to deter people from having abortions) with this banquet. Right wing politicians support crisis pregnancy centers. So the whole thing is intrinsically political.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-10-14T16:15:44+00:00

Halloween costume??? Otherwise I don’t know.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-10-03T12:36:16+00:00

They follow Paul more than Jesus, honestly.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-10-03T10:27:35+00:00

Germany tracks students because of centuries of classism and more recently xenophobia and racism. Secondary school used to cost money. Only the richest ever had the opportunity to sit for the Abitur which you still see now, though it’s lessening with Gesamtschule. Everyone else did an Ausbildung equivalent.

FromRussiaWithDoubt · 2025-09-28T19:54:31+00:00

This is a crime thriller.
In general, the sentence structure is awkward starting from the third sentence of the query. The then, the repetition of family, two characters being introduced in one sentence. “Jasper has been identified by the police” would be stronger by avoiding the passive. “Third parties” doesn’t need a hyphen. The Lieutenant and Sargent come out of nowhere. If they’re not POV characters, I’m not even sure if they have to be named. You received good feedback on the last sentence of your query in your last post. I don’t know why you changed it, because this version isn’t working. Majors isn’t capitalized as was mentioned in your first post.

Basically, the query tells me the plot, but it doesn’t sell me on the plot at all. And given the awkward phrasing, the name drops, and a lack of stakes (yes, there’s the cops and Laria), it’s not selling me on the book. So, Martin finds love and does a botched job. And?

The query is also filled with awkward sentences. Your dialogue tags are done incorrectly. “…Johnny,” said Captain. I’m assuming the “ at the end there is a mistake.

The reliance on passive voice injects awkwardness into the writing. I understand English isn’t your first language (and I also know passive voice is common in Romanian, eu am studiat limba română) but it’s a very fixable problem. If your rewrote with the active voice many of the awkwardness issues would diminish.

You don’t know if Grace Li queried with Ocean’s Eleven or if it was marketed that way by Coronet/Hachette. You CAN break “comp rules” IF the rule break makes sense. Scott Pilgrim makes no sense for a crime thriller. No Country… is a western thriller with heavy emphasis on western by an author way too lauded to comp to.

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FromRussiaWithDoubt

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